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Cotton Club Parade Spring 1933 / Nicholas Brothers [theatrical performance]

Title

Cotton Club Parade Spring 1933 [Theatrical Performance]

Performers

Nicholas Brothers

Nicholas, Fayard

Nicholas, Harold

Cotton Club Girls

Waters, Ethel

LaRedd, Cora

Williams, Henry "Rubberlegs"

Published/Created

1933-04-09

Genre

Theatrical Performance

Venue

Cotton Club

Abstract

Some say 4/16/1933 opening. 22nd edition of the Cotton Club Parade with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, composed of eighteen scenes, ranging from skits and dance specialties to comedy and songs. In this edition, in which Ethel Waters introduced "Stormy Weather" with George Dewey Washington singing responses to her, joined by the Talbot Choir and a dancing chorus; the Nicholas Brothers (Fayard and Harold) performed a new "Dance Specialty" choreographed by Fayard to the music arranged by Jimmy McHugh. Harold Nicholas' talent for doing impressions of famous personalities was put to use in the "Bill Robinson Stomp" in which he captured Bojangles' whimsical style, which combined time steps, skating, and crossover steps, danced on the balls of the feet. In this the first engagement with the Ellington band, the Nicholas Brothers were very impressed and influenced. Like Ellington, the Brothers as tap dancers synchronized their movement, harmonized their taps, and played rhythms against each other to effect a textural blending of tones. Ellington's formal elegance and fastidiousness in dress and manner was also admired by the Nicholases, who emulated his style. Fayard and Harold's outward show of elegance--their donning of tuxedos, or top hats and tails--was not a direct imitation of Ellington, but it certainly was reinforced by the master's stylishness and superb sense of cool. Also in this edition of the Cotton Club Parade, Harold Nicholas performed "Happy as the Day is Long" which he sang and danced with the Cotton Club Girls. The number began with what to become a standard practice--Harold singing and tap dancing in lavish musical numbers. Around him the Cotton Club Girls would shimmy and grind, cross their long legs in the Susie-Q, and sway their hips in the tack-Annie, stepping rhythmically with style.

Source

Strattemann, Klaus: Duke Ellington: Day by Day, Film by Film. Copenhagen: Jazz Media (1992).

Hill, Constance Valis: Brotherhood in Rhythm: The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers. New York: Oxford University Press (2000).

Last Updated: 12-16-2015